Blake, Frederick Etherton (1888-1968)

Transcription of obituary published in the Minutes of Conference

FREDERICK ETHERTON BLAKE: born near Toft Hill, Co. Durham, in 1888. Early in life he dedicated himself to the service of Christ, becoming a Lay Pastor in Leyland, Lancs, from where he entered Hartley College to train for the Ministry. He travelled in the following circuits: Clitheroe, Morecambe, Darwen, Ellesmere Port, Berwick-on-Tweed, Stockport (Davenport), Preston, South Shields, and Connah’s Quay. 

In Darwen and Stockport he served extended terms of eight years, After his retirement he became an active supernumerary at Wallacestone and Blairgowrie in Scotland, and Bury in Lancs. He was a gifted administrator. Churches under his leadership were renovated and rebuilt. He had marked preaching gifts and, to the end of his life, was in demand for special services. A lover of people, he had the true pastor’s heart. He encouraged young men to take up preaching and a number are in the Ministry today because of his early help. He was, for many years, a member of the Hartley Victoria College Committee. It was while he was on holiday with his son in Northern Ireland that the end came suddenly. He died on 1 November 1968, in the eightieth year of his age and the fifty-third of his ministry.

Family

Frederick was born on 24 September 1887 at Toft Hill, Co. Durham, to parents, Alfred, a coal miner, and Isabella.

Before becoming a lay pastor, Frederick worked in a colliery.

He married Mona Jackson (1893-1960) in the spring of 1919 in the Chorley, Registration District, Lancashire. Records identify one child.

• Rex Etherton (1926-2003)

Frederick died on 1 November 1968 in Northern Ireland.

Circuits

• Hartley
• 1915 Clitheroe
• 1919 Morecambe
• 1922 Darwen
• 1930 Ellesmere Port
• 1934 Berwick
• 1937 Stockport Daven
• 1945 Preston Fylde Rd
• 1946 S Shields
• 1951 Connah’s Quay
• 1954 Falkirk (Sup)

References

Methodist Minutes 1969/189

W Leary, Directory of Primitive Methodist Ministers and their Circuits, 1990

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers